Julius Caesar Research Paper

The Roman republic was not a great time period to live in with a mercurial political climate with an innumerable amount of dictators, as well as having to deal with disease and harsh laws. The political climate in the 100 B.C. era was very erratic which led to the rise of dictators such as Lucius Sulla and Julius Caesar by illegitimate means. They were helped to come to power by a weak republic, very aristocratic hierarchy and bloodshed, and weak minded people. These gave dictators like Caesar and Sulla the chance to come to power, exhort new laws, and therefore dictate the people of Ancient Rome. The days of the early Roman Republic were uncertain and chaotic due to the new form of government they had to create and that no civilization

Julius Caesar was born into the same family as Marius so he had a wealthy reputation that gave him some power over the people. He would later join a triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus and who would rule over Rome for some 7 years. Then there was a fallout between Pompey and Caesar which led to an abundant amount bloodshed until Caesar finally beat Pompey and he then became the sole dictator of Rome. Through their wealthy families and violence, Sulla and Caesar climbed the ladder in politics and became the dictators of

Many of the poor did not have a good education concerning the law or how the republic ran. In this way, many of the leaders abused this power to get what they wanted including their vote. John Kirby says, “Superiority could be claimed by a bigger gift to the people or a better speech”(Kirby 233). This point can be demonstrated in Julius Caesar when Brutus and Antony give their speeches about the justification of Caesar’s death. After Brutus gives his speech they say, “‘This Caesar was a tyrant. Nah, that’s certain’”(Shakespeare 121), and believe that the assassination of Caesar was right and justified. However Antony gives his speech and they respond by saying, “‘If though consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrong’”(Shakespeare 123), as if they had never heard Brutus’ speech and just listened to Antony’s. It clearly shows how the people were so weak minded that they could change their minds in an instant and without question or deliberation on the topic. By abusing this weakness of the people, “Roman politicians were quick to ‘go negative’ and attack each other personally”(Kirby 233). This would give the people a bad image of the other politician(s) and therefore the people would not vote for them. Though this was a good tactic, it could backfire making the attacking politician look bad themselves. The other politician could also just give another speech to win back the people.